Category Archive for: ‘Micro Hydro Energy – issues & information’

Jurisdictions in the United States, and the United Kingdom have higher Feed in Tariff rates than Ontario in spite of arguably having less risky and less costly regulatory environments. The conclusion is that Ontario rates must go up to match the more risky and more costly regulatory environment in Ontario or …

Comments by many who argue that Feed in Tariff programs just create “false or fake markets” and “that In a free and democratic country, a commodity’s price should be determined by the marketplace and subject to the laws of supply and demand” are based on the assumption of perfect markets. Therefore, they argue that feed in tariff programs are just unfair subsidies to certain producers that the expense of consumers. The problem is that the “marketplace” is anything but perfect…

The regulatory environment in Ontario is such that it increases the risk of development and significantly adds to total costs and these costs are higher than in other jurisdictions globally. This statement is based on our attempts over the last several years to get 30 waterpower sites ready for the next FIT application window in Ontario…

Turbines are also divided by their principle of operation and can be: An Impulse turbine, which is driven by a high-velocity jet (or multiple jets) of water. A Reaction turbine. The rotor of a reaction turbine is fully immersed in water and is enclosed in …

There are two ways of expressing the variation in river flow over the year: the annual hydrograph and the Flow Duration Curve or FDC, as illustrated below. The annual hydrograph is the easiest to understand, since it simply shows the day-by-day variation in flow over …

There are various ways of measuring flow at your hydro site as of a certain point in time. Flow also varies at any site usually, therefore a flow measurement should also be accompanied by the date it was taken and if possible how long it’s …